Hey everyone, today we’ve got a special edition of Spellcasters. Ansai responds to the recent voicemail that was aired on Monday Night Magic episode 129. Special Edition Spellcasters episodes in the future may include interviews with other magic players, or anything else we want to specifically talk about.

Hey guys, was just listening to your back episodes and I thought I’d give some feedback here rather than expecting you to read comments on your weeks-old archives.

I enjoyed your Halloween special a lot, but as a suggestion for the future – when your top 5 is a “top five X for drafting format Y”, unless X is “rares you want to open” it might be better to focus on commons and uncommon that players are likely to see. I’d love to open a Cruel Ultimatum or a Death Baron for my Halloween draft deck, but if I don’t get that lucky, it would be useful to know which is the better Halloween common, Dredgescape zombie or Deathgreeter?

In direct response to this special episode – Keep up the good work, I’m glad you’re part of the Network. Lots of the casts on the network are aimed at tournament savvy, some are aimed at deck building, some like MNM seem to mostly about Magic News. You guys to a certain extent capture a different (and one of my favorite) aspects of the Magic world – sitting around with friends and talking about the game, arguing about awful cards, and otherwise goofing off. I love it.

I wouldn’t let negative comments get you down. It is proof that people are listening. I agree with trying to find your niche to try to distinguish yourself from other shows.

Besides the drafting with series on SCG, limited doesn’t get enough coverage. I would enjoy hearing more about Shards draft. If you both have a fair amount of draft experience you could discuss a list of picks and discuss what might be your first pick in pack 1 of a draft. You could discuss signals and how it relates to Shards draft.

I think you made your point at 4 minutes into this podcast. the next 10 to 15 minutes was rediculous. You should have told him to shove it and moved on. If you had waited until the next actual episode it would have been better.

We didn’t want to waste precious time in an actual podcast on this guy. We realized that not everyone cares what we think about this voice mail. So we decided to make an optional shorter podcast about our views and opinions. The point is, we didnt waste 4 minutes or 15 minutes on this stuff in the actual podcast, since we’d like to stick to Magic.

Hey Guys,
Dont let some random shmucks comment get you down. The vast majority, including myself, enjoys your podcast. Some people have their own personal preference and he obviously doesnt like yall’s direction of the cast. And i like where you are goin.

I feel like the rant wasn’t too out of line because it was in a separate episode, but you shouldn’t let it get to you too much. As others have said, keep up the good work. Frankly, I would be fairly upset if you were taken off air. I work delivering boxes throughout a building and I am starved for podcasts, I listen to 2-4 a day, because as ridiculous as it sounds, it’s nice to listen to others voices when you don’t have anyone to interact with.

I almost called in on the spot when I heard the voicemail on MNM, but I am not a motivated person in general, but I did feel the need to come here and tell you to keep it up. I could go on pointing out how much I hated the hate mail and the reasons why it is stupid in general but I have gone on long enough.

This happens all the time. Around my first couple of episodes I had comments like:
“Thanx for the waste of 4:34 out of my life.”
AND
“Go die.”
AND
“This show won’t last past a 5th episode.”
AND
“This show makes me want to shoot myself. It’s a waste of oxygen.”

On the other hand lots of other people like the show, and 1,000s watch, so, hey? Why listen to the destructive comments, when you can listen to the more that give you appraisal.

Both me and Ansai are completely thankful for all of your positive responses! Thank you so much to everyone who continues to support and listen to our show! We should have Episode 4 up very shortly, promise.

Wow guys, wow. I had no idea a simple voicemail could cause this much havoc. It was mostly a comment for Tom to hear and direct to the appropriate sources, I didn’t even expect him to air it. I was exceedingly surprised when 3 of the MnM networks podcasts talked about it, along with a separate episode being devoted to it.

Let me just point out that I didn’t call anyone names, I didn’t say you’re dumb or that you suck, I just said that I thought it was pointless to make a podcast like this. You are not introducing any new material or bringing anything interesting to the table. I have gone back and listened to episodes 3 and 4 as well, just to give you extra chances. I kept an open mind, but just couldn’t force myself to giggle along with the comments about boobies, etc. I have not even come close to cracking a smile at any point, so I don’t understand the claim that your redeeming value is somehow based in comedy. I laugh out loud at MSB and MnM on a regular basis.

I also realize that this is a casual-oriented cast. I enjoy casual as well as competitive magic, and I listen to the Magic Sock from time to time. I just thought that if this show is going to be up on the network, perhaps it should be polished a bit more, at least find something interesting OR funny to say. As is, you are just regurgitating the news we all hear anyway.

I must say that you gentlemen have inspired me though. You have shown me that ANYONE, literally ANYONE can have a show on this network. Being a listener of every podcast excluding Magic Sock since the beginning, (from Monday Night Magic #1) I thought that it took a certain caliber of podcaster to make the cut and get their show on the network. From Djinn’s Playground to the slightly newer Magic School Bus, it made complete sense to me that they should be on this network. But you have given me living proof that anyone with a microphone and an internet connection can ramble on for extended periods of time, call it a podcast, and have it distributed on the MnM network. It’s a beautiful thing, I’m sure it brings home to thousands of scrubs everywhere.

A couple things, you preface the idea that you aren’t hurling insults and that you want to just point out you don’t feel it’s a necessary cast but then you end up doing just that. I’m not a big fan of this cast and I’ll be honest, but I do understand that these guys have to find a place and there are people who do listen. Rather than just say they don’t have a place, I’ve been trying to listen and see what things they may want to try to get it running more smoothly (not that I’m an expert at it).

I do have to give you respect for listening to the next couple but if you still don’t like it, don’t listen. It’s a free cast by people who are spending their time to help out a community. Just like MnM, MSB, Djinn, and the rest of the guys out there. You don’t have to listen to Spellcasters.

Have you tried listening to the first Magic School Bus episode? Or Djinn’s Playground? These guys are great guys with some awesome casts but their first few were rough too. Rob sounded like he was reading off a script at the beginning on the first one and Djinn’s cast didn’t seem to have the best direction (the Planar Chaos review on white cards was really rough). It just takes time to find the right audience and what they want. If you aren’t in that audience, then why do you care what they do?

I happen to like this podcast. maybe i am fall into what could be their target audience (casual player that respects tournies and is curious about my own potential involvement in them) but the subject-matter of this cast is good. its lose and casual and any talkative cast that explores things like “top 5s” and personal favs is great. theres so many casts on this network that focus on tourny news and specific formats, so its a bit refreshing to find one that is new AND flavorful AND is taking a slightly different approach to things. its actually this cast in particular that has got me thinking about whether or not i could do this sort of thing with a couple of my friends… and i think i could. so thankyou guys for being normal people who play/like magic enough to broadcast it.